Nutmeg nutrition facts 100g: calories, fat and what a pinch adds

The table gives nutmeg nutrition per 100 g of the raw seed as IFCT 2017, the composition tables of ICMR-National Institute of Nutrition, prints it, with two more spice rows beside it so the numbers can be read in context: cloves come from the same tables, and ground cinnamon from USDA FoodData Central. Nutmeg is the most energy-dense of the three: 464 kcal per 100 g, carried mostly by its 36.5 g of fat. Carbohydrate is 27.6 g, protein 6.3 g and total dietary fibre 12 g.

Two cells are worth naming before the table. IFCT 2017 prints no vitamin C figure for nutmeg, the amount being below the detectable limit, and none for cloves; USDA FoodData Central prints 3.8 mg for ground cinnamon. Nutmeg calories, in short, are a fat story: most of the 464 kcal rides on the 36.5 g of fat. And IFCT 2017 prints no glycemic index value for nutmeg, a blank that the glycemic index section below explains rather than fills. Numbers on a shop pack may differ slightly from these; every figure on this page uses the table value.

Per 100 g raw, edible portion. Composition: IFCT 2017 (ICMR-NIN); USDA FoodData Central (SR Legacy), FDC ID 171320, NDB 2010. — means not reported. These are average values for the food; the label on a pack gives the values for that product.

A kitchen pinch of grated nutmeg weighs about 0.5 g, one two-hundredth of the per-100 g basis above. The table below multiplies each per-100 g figure by 0.005 to show what that pinch actually carries.

Read the right-hand column with a little mercy: 2.3 kcal, 0.18 g of fat and 1.1 mg of magnesium are seasoning-sized numbers. Even the highest entry, the pinch's 2.4 mg of potassium, is a trace of the day's intake. That smallness is the point of this page, not a defect in the spice: nutmeg flavours a dish, and the dish itself does the feeding. Grating the seed and the honest daily-limit answer are on the how to use nutmeg page.

Does nutmeg have protein? Yes: 6.3 g per 100 g, the most of the three. Cloves carry 5.9 g and ground cinnamon 4.0 g, so on protein nutmeg wins, but the win is paper-thin in the kitchen, where a 0.5 g pinch carries about 0.03 g.

Does nutmeg have fibre? Yes, but the least of the three. Nutmeg carries 12 g of total dietary fibre per 100 g against 34.5 g in cloves and 53.1 g in ground cinnamon: cloves carry nearly three times nutmeg's fibre, and cinnamon more than four times. Fat is the row where nutmeg leads the table by a distance: its 36.5 g per 100 g is more than four times cloves' 8.4 g and nearly 30 times the 1.2 g in ground cinnamon, and the fat is what sets the energy figure at 464 kcal. Every comparison above is raw against raw, on the same 100 g basis.

IFCT 2017 prints no glycemic index value for nutmeg, and none is guessed. IFCT 2017 leaves the GI cell blank for the seed, and the same blank sits in the cloves and cinnamon entries shown above. Where a reader might expect a GI figure, the honest answer is that neither IFCT 2017 nor USDA FoodData Central lists one.

Because there is no GI, there is no glycemic load either: a glycemic load is calculated from a glycemic index, so none can be calculated. What IFCT 2017 prints is the carbohydrate itself, 27.6 g per 100 g, and the pinch's share of it, about 0.14 g. Whether any spice at that scale moves blood sugar is a different question, and none of the studies in the references tests it.

Per 100 g, IFCT 2017 prints 148 mg calcium, 212 mg magnesium, 474 mg potassium, 2.3 mg iron, 1.45 mg zinc, 14.3 mg sodium and 74.8 mcg folate for nutmeg. Against the two peers the wins split three ways. Cloves lead on magnesium (334 mg), potassium (1434 mg) and iron (9.4 mg); ground cinnamon leads on calcium (1000 mg) and zinc (1.8 mg); nutmeg leads on folate, with 74.8 mcg against 32.8 mcg in cloves and 6 mcg in cinnamon.

Sodium is a quiet row for all three: 14.3 mg in nutmeg, 10 mg in cinnamon and 183 mg in cloves per 100 g, and since no dish uses 100 g of any spice, the salt in a meal still comes almost entirely from the cook. The pinch column above shrinks every mineral the same way: the 0.5 g pinch's 0.74 mg of calcium is a seasoning-sized trace. What each of these minerals does in the body, and which of nutmeg's ten benefits sit behind them, is on the nutmeg benefits page.

Everything above points one way, and it is worth saying in plain words: at the pinch a dish actually uses, nutmeg nutrition is trace. A 0.5 g pinch of grated nutmeg carries about 2.3 kcal, 0.03 g protein, 0.18 g fat, 0.14 g carbohydrate and 0.06 g fibre, with the minerals behind the decimal point. The general point, from a 2014 review in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences, covers all culinary spices: people eat them in small quantities, usually mixed into other foods, so their true health benefit stays unclear. Nutmeg is a flavouring; the meal around it does the feeding.

IFCT 2017 has no entry for mace, the aril that wraps the seed, so no numbers are guessed for it; the difference between nutmeg and mace page compares the pair, and the names, benefits and storage of the seed sit together on the nutmeg hub.

Does nutmeg have calories?

Yes. Nutmeg has 464 kcal per 100 g (IFCT 2017), most of it from the 36.5 g of fat in the same 100 g. At the weight cooking actually uses, the picture flips: a 0.5 g pinch of grated nutmeg carries about 2.3 kcal, so nutmeg adds a rounding error to a dish, not a meal's worth of energy.

Does nutmeg have any nutritional value?

Yes, and the numbers sit in the table above: per 100 g the seed carries 6.3 g protein, 12 g fibre, 148 mg calcium, 212 mg magnesium, 474 mg potassium and 74.8 mcg folate (IFCT 2017). At the 0.5 g a dish takes, each of those shrinks to milligrams or fractions of a gram, so the honest answer is that nutmeg has nutritional value in trace amounts.

Is jaiphal good for diabetes?

None of the studies in the references shows jaiphal doing anything for diabetes. The antidiabetic evidence is laboratory work: a 2025 review in Food Science and Nutrition reports antidiabetic properties from studies of nutmeg's compounds and adds that more clinical research is required. Keep jaiphal to culinary pinches, and for diabetes talk to your doctor or dietitian.

Is nutmeg high in fat?

Yes. Fat is 36.5 g per 100 g (IFCT 2017), more than four times cloves' 8.4 g and nearly 30 times the 1.2 g in ground cinnamon, and that fat is what makes nutmeg the most energy-dense of the three at 464 kcal. A 0.5 g pinch carries only about 0.18 g of fat.

Does nutmeg have carbs?

Yes: 27.6 g of carbohydrate per 100 g (IFCT 2017), of which 12 g is dietary fibre. The 0.5 g pinch a dish uses carries about 0.14 g of carbohydrate and 0.06 g of fibre. IFCT 2017 prints no glycemic index value for nutmeg, so no glycemic load can be calculated.

Does nutmeg have vitamin C?

IFCT 2017 prints no vitamin C figure for nutmeg: it leaves the cell blank because the amount is below the detectable limit, and it does the same for cloves. Ground cinnamon, from USDA FoodData Central, prints 3.8 mg per 100 g. At a pinch, none of this changes a meal.